THE Korean War is often referred to as ‘the forgotten war’,
yet Taegukgi goes some way to ensuring that it might just be remembered.

The film's origins go back to a documentary aired on TV in 2005
about an excavation of the dead from the Korean War.

The programme featured an elderly woman who had been waiting
for her husband to return home from the war.

She didn't even get any news about the whereabouts of her beloved
for 50 years, but eventually found her husband after being carried
to the excavation site on the back of a soldier.

Having finally found her life-partner, however, all that remained
were his smashed bones.

Having been moved by the documentary,
celebrated South Korean director, Je-gyu Kang (who previously
helmed Shiri) felt compelled to make a war film that reflected
the stories of the 'lost dead' - those whose memory ought not
to be lost by the ignorance of the world.

The result is a picture that contains battle sequences as intense
and graphic as those in Saving Private Ryan, which also packs
a strong emotional punch.

It focuses on two South Korean brothers – a shoe-maker
(Jang Dong-kun) and a student Won Bin) – who unwittingly
become ‘drafted’, only to find themselves in conflict
with each other as the insanity of the fighting takes hold.

The animosity between them exists because the older brother,
played by Dong-kun, believes he can secure his younger brother's
discharge from the army by earning himself a medal (or getting
himself killed).

But his heroics threaten to change his personality, turning him
into something that his young charge no longer loves or respects.

Their different attitudes to the fighting eventually come to
a head when the war impacts on the family they left behind in
the most devastating fashion.

Though sentimental in places, Taegugki provides a realistic
account of the horror that took place during the Korean War of
1950, not just on the front-line but also among the families and
communities that were torn apart by the threat of Communism.

It confronts some difficult issues head-on, showing the atrocities
that were committed by both sides, while questioning the impact
of how war really affects the men left to fight it.

As such, it is unflinching in the extreme and viewers could well
feel battle weary, but the journey is certainly worth taking,
particularly if you're a fan of the big war movies of Hollywood.

If nothing else, Taegugki provides a chilling reminder of the
futility of war in another part of the world where peace remains
fragile to this day.